Improvement in windmills



GTLESMABIE 8L THOMAS C. LITTLE.

Imp'r'ovement in Windmills.

I v Patented May 2,187.1.

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GILES MABIE AND THOMAS C. LITTLE, OF DIXON, ILLINOIS; SAID MABIE y ASSIGNS HIS RIGHT TO SAID LITTLE.-

IMPROVEMENT IN WINDMILLS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 114,309, dated May 2, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, GILEs MABIE and THOMAS O. LITTLE, of Dixon, in the county of Lee and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Windmills 5 and we do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the same,`

reference being had to the accompanying drawing, and t0 the letters of reference marked` f tion.

thereon.

This invention relates to that class of windmills which is provided with a vert-ical wheel upon a horizontal shaft, the Wheel having rosette `fans or sails, provided with the usual weights for regulating their position relatively l crank, slide-head, bearing-plate, and clasp;

Fig. 3, a side elevation of the cylinder, with its arms, standards, Ste.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use our invention, we will now proceed to describe fully its construction and method of operation. j.

A represents the tower or standard, which may be of any proper form and suitable con-l B represents a cylinder, which' forms a support or base for the remaining,

struction.

parts of the mill. It is itself secured to the standard by means of the step G at its lower end and the strap D at its upper end. The step G is formed of two equal parts, c c, of corresponding form, each of which is provided with an angle-iron, c1, top plates cz, and bracebar c3. The top plate c2 extends inwardly a little beyond the vertical line of the inner face of the inner half of the angle-iron, and consequently rests, when in place, in a recess in the standard. The an gle-iron is secured by proper fastening to the corners of the standards, as shown.

Each top plate c2 of the step is provided with a semicircular recess upon its inner side, which forms, when the parts are united, a central opening for the recept-ion of the lower end of the cylinder B. The latter is provided at this point with a groove formed by projecting ilanges, in which groove the edges of the top plate of the step rest, as clearly shown in the drawing.

c4 represents a bolt, by means of which the parts of the steps are securely bound together after the cylinder is placed in position.

The strap D may be of any proper construc- In connection with it is used a bearingplate, d, attached to the standard, which rest-s against the cylinder and assists in holding it properly in place. The cylinder B, in addition to the flanges at its lower end, is provided ralso with an enlargement, b, at its upper end,

and with arms b1 b2, extending at right angles, or nearly so, to its vertical center line, and in opposite directions from each other. The arm bl is provided with projecting edges above and below upon each side, by means of which a recess is made to secure the arms or beams c of the vane or guiding-fan E. The arm b2 is inclined upward slightly as it extends outward from the enlarged end of the cylinder, and is provided with standards b3 b4, to which are secured the boxes for the bearings of the main shaft F. It may be further provided also, it' desired, with ears for holding the ends of suitable'base-rods to stay the machine.

The main shaft F has attached to one end. in any suitable manner, the wind-wheel, and to the other the crank, to which is connected the pitman for operating the pump-rod. The pitman is held at proper intervals by suitable guides, and is connected to the pump-rod by a loose joint, which will permit the former to revolve without affecting the latter. The windwheel is connected to the shaft F in this case by means of a circular plate, G, provided with radial arms g, corresponding in number with the divisions of the wheel. To the arms g the fan-supportin g arms gl are secured in any proper manner.

H represents a set of sails or fans, such as is common to rosette fan-wheels, which consists of a series of blades, h, of similar form, which is attached in an inclined position to a common central cross-bar, hl.

The cross-bar itself is pivoted at its ends to the ends of the arms g, the connection beg2 upon the arm g1.

tween the parts being established by means Yof a clasp, h2, upon the end of the cross-bar h, which is provided with a tapering stud or spindle, which rests in bearings in the plate This plate is peculiarly constructed. It is provided with ears upon each side and with a central triangularlyshaped projection, which latter acts as a stop and prevents excessive lateral motion on the part of the cross-'bar h1 in its bearing in the plate.

The foregoing description relates especially to the construction of the mill proper, without regard to the means for regulating or controlling it.

We will now proceed to describe the devices by means of which its speed is' always automatically regulated.

z' represents an arm projecting This latter is constructed in two equal and similar parts, each of which is provided with a semicircular longitudinal recess, which forms, when the parts are united, an orifice for the reception of the end of the connecting-rod J. The free end of the iron also is enlarged and provided with an opening, as clearly shown.

in the drawing, which is designed for the pur- 'pose of holding a nut upon the rod and permitting the same to be easily manipulated.

The outer end of the rod beyond the iron is also provided with a nut, by which arrangef ment the length of the rod relatively to the iron can be easily adjusted when desired.

The inner ends of the rods J are attached to one of the arms of the bell-cranks K, to the other arm of which latter are attached rods 7c, by means of which connection is made with the sliding head L. n

The bearing-arms of the bell-cranks rest in bearings in a plate constructed similarly to at their rear ends to the long arm of the elbow-lever M, as shown. This latter is pivoted to the upper ends of the standards N, which rise from thevane-beams cbelow, and is united by means of its short arms to the connectingrods o o, as shown.

To the extreme end of the long arm of the lever M is attached one end of a spring, m, the other end of which latter is suitably attached to the vane-beams, as shown.

Theconnecting-rodso o pass downward upon the inside of cylinder B, through its enlarge- Vment b, and upon its outside through grooves,

j from the: cross-bar h1 of each set of fans, to which is se- Q curely fastened the peculiarly-formed iron I.

as shown, theremaining partof the way vto the lower flanges, and through them to the cross-head p. This latter is provided with a central cylindrical downwardly projecting stud, through which passes the pitman, and

which has also a groove, in which rest'thefingers of the bar Q, attached to the adjustinglever R.

S represents a shield, which is, preferably, cylindrical in form, and is secured to the arms of plate g, and is designed to protect the slide-head from being affected by snow or ice.

' The operation is as follows: The Ywheel is actuated by the wind in the usual well-known manner. becomes excessive they are caused to revolve with sufficient rapidity to throw outward, by centrifugal force, the irons I, which act as weights, and thus, by their movement, turn the sails more or less parallel with the direction of the winds movement, and remove them, to a greater or lesser extent, froml the influence of its action. l The movement of the sails causes, by means of the connections described, a vcorrespondin g movement of the slide-head, and with lit also the elbow-lever M, which draws out the spring m. Ittherefore follows that when thepressure of the wind has subsided sufficiently to permit the spring m to act, it will retract and draw the sail again into the wind. It consequently follows that the devices for regulating the fans are automatic in their operation. When the pressure of the wind is excessive the sails are thrown out of the wind'by the' centrifugal action of the weighted irons; but as soon as the force subsides the sails are drawn again into the wind by the action of the spring on. y

By means of the adjusting-lever R the position of the sails can be regulated at vany time at will. j n

Some of the specific details of the construction shown are possessed of marked advantages.. The peculiar construction of the cylinder and its step permits the parts to be' easily and quickly attached to each other and the standard.

The lpeculiar construction of the connectl ing-rods and irons attached to the sails perA mits an adjustment to be easily made,so that the relative position of the sails to the slidehead may be changed when desired-that is to say, if it should be found in practice that the extreme movement of the slide-head did vnot permit the sails to be sufeiently exposed When the pressure upon the fans The windmill as a whole is simple in its construction, and not liable to get out of order.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Pat-ent, is

1. The arrangement of the elbow-lever M, with its standards N and connecting-rods l l 0 o', by means of which the adjusting-lever is connected to the slide-head, as described.

2. The irons JI, constructed a-s described, in combination with the connecting-rods J, as set forth.

This specification signed and witnessed this 19th day of December, 1870.

` GILES MABIE.

THOMAS G. LITTLE.

Witnesses:

HARVEY MORGAN, Gr. W. FORD. 

